The steady growth of Pinterest has seen advertisers increasingly interested in it but, with the exception of a few well-designed visual campaigns, not making much headway. In the absence of a simple, easy to use system for creating ads, it has struggled to compete with the likes of Facebook. Now, however, it is attracting a new surge of business interest thanks to a simple device – Place Pins.
“In fact, every day people Pin about 1.5 million places and now there are more than 750 million Pins of these destinations on Pinterest. We asked ourselves, how can we help people turn their travel inspiration into reality? Today, we’re taking a first step toward that goal with Place Pins,” says the site’s blog.
The biggest winners on the new Pinterest are likely to be hotels, restaurants and others with an interest in the hospitality industry; however, there is also plenty of room for other businesses to take advantage. It is especially useful for those with multiple locations and those traveling to sell their wares, such as by appearing at farmers’ markets, as sites such as these can now easily be highlighted for existing friends to find.
Place Pins allow users to connect their images directly to a map, which is powered by Foursquare and works in partnership with Google Maps. An address and phone number can be added to make the place easier to find. To make it even better, the system works easily – for both viewing and editing –over mobile phones, which is always a key factor when it comes to local search. This also increases its usefulness to tourists and the probability that people will use it to make impulse buys. Because it is such a visual medium, it is a better place for exercising the immediate appeal of an attractive or stylish product than for making a more detailed pitch that a prospective customer might want to take time to consider. In a local search context, images on Pinterest can also be linked to signs or window displays that customers will see on approaching in person.
What is the best thing about this new initiative? It is completely free, though this is not due to any lack of savvy on Pinterest’s part. As businesses crowd onto the site to take advantage of this opportunity, they can expect a significant increase in sales or promoted pins. As general users benefit from enriched maps and greater ease in finding the businesses that interest them, it is an arrangement where everybody wins.